Dax Shepard is looking back on a near-death experience that he narrowly escaped.
“I don’t know what the definition is, but I actually have had the moment, which is some of the unique feelings I’ve ever had in my life, where I went, ‘Oh, I’m about to die,’” Shepard, 51, told guest Kaley Cuoco through the Monday, February 9, episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast.
Shepard set the terrifying scene, explaining he was lying within the backseat of a Ford Probe that his friend was driving.
“We were getting back from Toledo back as much as Detroit,” he remembered. “It was, like, late at night, and I needed to work super early within the morning, so I am going, ‘Hey, I’m going to sleep within the back. Are you good to drive?’ ‘Yeah, I’m totally effective.’”
The Ranch actor continued, “He had the cruise control on 85, and I’m, like, back there, I’m listening, and the road was really rhythmic. Just at that moment, I used to be like, ‘Oh, that rhythm is sweet. I’m going to go to sleep,’ after which I just heard gravel hitting the side of the automotive, and I immediately looked up, and he was completely slumped over, and we had gone off the road, and we’re going 85, and the automotive began to go sideways.”
Shepard explained that because pine trees line the interstate in Michigan, he was convinced the vehicle would hit a tree.
“I began to go to grab the wheel, and there’s a moment I just knew it was too far gone, like we had gone completely sideways,” he shared. “I laid back down, after which we just launched within the air, and we began rolling right down the highway.”
Regardless that the experience was scary, Shepard said there was a moment he felt at peace with the undeniable fact that he could have died.
“I’m like, ‘We’re going to hit a tree, and that’s going to be that,’ and I definitely had this moment where I used to be like, ‘Wow, I’m going to die in a second,’ and the sensation was shockingly comforting that I remember I went from complete fear, ‘S*** the automotive’s uncontrolled. Oh, my God, we’re gonna roll. F***, we’re rolling. Alright, we’re going to roll right into a tree. I’m gonna die,’ like, all that calculus. After which I just went like, [sighs], but I got very calm.”
Dax Shepard Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Feld Entertainment
Shepard continued, “Whatever thing they offer you, the DMT or regardless of the weird chemical is, did definitely start getting released, I feel, where I used to be form of weirdly at total peace with it. After which we just rolled, like, 10 times, ended up the wrong way up. We didn’t hit a tree. The automotive was flat-out. We rolled out the windows, the entire nine yards.” (DMT is a powerful psychedelic drug that may affect all of the senses, altering an individual’s thoughts, sense of time and emotions, per the Alcohol and Drug Foundation.)
After his harrowing account of the accident, Shepard assured listeners that the driving force of the vehicle “was OK.” Cuoco, 40, told Shepard the story was “terrifying” and “really interesting.”
“Quite a lot of the stories that I hear, people have a way of calm, even when something bad is occurring,” the Big Bang Theory actress said.
Shepard went on to say that for about three days after the accident, he felt “very peculiar” and was questioning, “Am I dead? I do know I died.” For him, those thoughts were “the weirdest a part of the entire thing.”
When asked whether the accident was a protracted time ago, Shepard revealed it occurred when he was in twelfth grade.
“This may increasingly shock you, but I’ve never been capable of go to sleep in a automotive ever since, so I can never let the opposite person take a turn driving. There’s no way I could sleep with another person driving,” Shepard concluded, to which Cuoco replied, “That is smart. That’s major PTSD.”